Vermont's geology contributes to many facets of human health. The bedrock, glacial materials, and soils may each have positive and/or negative impacts on water quality and air quality. Healthy human bodies require minerals and elements (ex. salt, calcium, iron) which are transferred from the geologic environment through the food chain. Some geologic materials may filter contaminants so they do not reach groundwater supplies. Geologic materials may also be the source of airborne contaminants or of naturally-occurring elements of concern in drinking water, including radionuclides and arsenic. This web page provides links to geologic issues in Vermont and worldwide.

For information from the US EPA about reducing exposure to naturally-occurring asbestos, click here.

Radionuclides:
Radionuclides
in the Champlain Valley have been documented in primary sedimentary layers, plus as secondary coatings along fractures (McKeown, 1951 and Whitten, 1988).
Bedrock mapping in the Colchester quadrangle (Kim and Thompson, 2002) focused in an area where domestic wells exceeded gross alpha standards. Detailed mapping, structural analysis, and geochemistry provided broad-based understanding of the radionuclide problem and serves as a prototype for future analysis throughout the State of Vermont.